Soil pollution by heavy metals correlates with levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites of a fossorial amphisbaenian reptile.

ABSTRACT: Soil degradation may have strong negative consequences for soil biodiversity, but these potential effects are understudied and poorly understood. Concentration of nesting seabirds may be a source of soil pollution by heavy metals, which are incorporated into the food chain and may have toxicological effects in vertebrates, especially in fossorial animals with low dispersal ability. We examined whether contamination by heavy metals, derived from seagull depositions, and other soil characteristics, may affect the levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (as a potential indicator of physiological stress) of the fossorial amphisbaenian reptile Trogonophis wiegmanni. We found a relationship between soil pollution by heavy metals and increased levels of faecal corticosterone metabolite

SUBMITTER: Martin J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8599815 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature